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Friday, May 27, 2011

WASPs and
Other Female Patriots

They flew
everything.

MORE
THAN
ONE WAY TO SERVE. Memorial Day is upon us again, and I'm
thinking, particularly this year, it's time to remember the women. Why
particularly this year? Because despite the supposed progress of
feminism, it's clear that the most "progressive" among us are the most
blatantly misogynist. We've just had the latest incident in a long line
of incidents designed to make it clear that when it comes to politics,
the operative progressive principle is as benighted as the ancient
cliche "barefoot and pregnant." Conservative women are fair game for
every low, sexual insult a progressive man
(or woman)
can
aim at them. And TA DA, it's all okay. The apology is done with a wink
we can infer from the incredible, ongoing sexual belittling by the left
that has
accompanied, like a bad smell, the political activities of Michelle
Malkin, Sarah
Palin, Michele
Bachmann, Laura
Ingraham, Ann
Coulter, and others.
Let's not kid ourselves. At times the raging
abuse has amounted to a kind of rape,
naked
hope
for
death, or an invitation to murder.
And
women are as much to blame in this disgrace as men.

What does all this have to do with Memorial Day? A lot. Women patriots
have a harder time generally fulfilling their love of country. They're
hopelessly second string or worse, bench sitters, in the U.S. military,
and when they dare to run for office or argue policy in the media
arena, they are wide open to assaults that always somehow find their
way between the legs, with, as I've said, the complicity of other
women. Moreover, they're subject to immediate drastic censure if they
respond in kind. They're expected to be ladylike throughout --
something akin to the age-old advice that if rape is inevitable,
you might as well relax and enjoy it. Does Laura Ingraham respond to
Ed Schultz by telling him she'll cut his balls off? Does Sarah Palin
inform Andrew Sullivan that if he makes one more comment about Trig,
she'll give him a buggering that will turn him celibate for life?

No. They're still obliged to be ladies, no matter how coarse their male
and female slanderers are. Which is why, on this particular Memorial
Day, I'm thinking of the World War II WASPs.

You can read their official history here.
They
ferried planes all over the world during WWII, six million miles
worth, freeing up male pilots for combat. Their contribution to the war
effort was finally honored with a Congressional
Gold
Medal in 2010. But I'm not thinking about official history
today. I'm remembering what my dad had to say about the WASPs.

He marvelled at them. They were skilled pilots, brave and hard as
nails. They also, in his words, could outcuss any man in the Army
Air Corps. He told me, "They used language I'd never heard before."

Funny, huh? Look at these sweet old ladies at the White House. They'd
never say a bad word, would they? Sure, they would. And did.

So, I'm thinking, have we actually regressed from 1944 to 2011? I'm
sure their brassy personas were a response to being knee deep in a
man's world. But isn't that the same situation women in politics are
faced with today? Maybe the WASPs have a lesson for our conservative
gals. (er, that's an old World War II term.) Fight back. Go
ahead. Cut their metaphorical balls off.

And, yeah, sorry. Memorial Day should be more dignified than this post.
But I'm not feeling very dignified at the moment.

Remember the women along with everyone else this year. All I'm saying.